She said: "The money we don't earn doesn't matter. Mr Sam Tan has helped us a lot and this is the only time we get to repay his hard work.

"After all, this only happens once in every four to five years."

The work began last Sunday, when Mrs Tan and her husband collected the posters from the printing company before heading to the PAP branch office.

"About 12 of us got together to prepare the posters. Some of us stapled the posters to the plywood while others drilled holes into the wood (to get)it ready for hanging," she said.

Businessman Pyrone Peng, 52, another volunteer for the PAP camp, took nine days' leave to help coordinate the hanging up of the posters.

15 YEARS

This is his 15th year as a volunteer and he has been helping to put up posters for the past two general elections.

"The 350 posters were given to us... last Sunday," said Mr Peng, who is the branch secretary of the Kampong Glam division, which is under the Jalan Besar GRC.

He and another volunteer spent their Sunday recceing the whole of Kampong Glam, driving round and making markings on a map.

"We looked out for the best lamp posts, making sure that these were posts that wouldn't block or obstruct cameras. It took us about one and a half hours," he said.

On Tuesday, after nominations closed, he and the other volunteers started putting up the posters at about 3pm.

"But we only did it till about 6pm because it's dark and not so safe," he said.

They continued their work at 8.30am yesterday, moving around on a lorry provided by one of the volunteers. They have since put up more than 300 posters in the Kampong Glam area.

"We also have volunteers who we call to check certain areas to make sure the posters are fine. When they tell us (a poster is) defaced or damaged, we go back and put up another one," he said.

"It's tiring work, but we all do it because we believe that Ms Denise Phua is a good leader."

Mr J.P. Chong, 48, a Workers' Party volunteer, said: "The printer had provided us with a lorry carrying two workers and the posters.

"A group of five of us went around... Marine Parade GRC. We followed in two vans behind the lorry's route (where the workers dropped the posters)... We'd stop the vehicle, dash down to put up the poster, jump back into the van and go on to the next lamp post."

It is the first time Mr Chong has volunteered for this task.

He said: "We (didn't) really know one another, but we took leave to come together for one cause. We paid for our meals, but took turns to buy beverages for the rest of the team."

We looked out for the best lamp posts, making sure that these were posts that wouldn't block or obstruct cameras. It took us about one and a half hours.